The VfB coach made three changes to the eleven that started in the 1-3 defeat to Mainz, with Ibrahima Traoré, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Georg Niedermeier coming in to replace Shinji Okazaki, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Maza respectively. The crowd of 60,000 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena saw a very average game early on, with the visitors standing deep and allowing VfB little space to play in. Bruno Labbadia’s men lacked mobility, ideas and the inspired ideas but, with the game fast approaching the break, the home side took a somewhat surprising 1-0 lead. VfB’s patience despite their frustration finally paid off when an attempted clearance fell to the feet of Martin Harnik, who hammered home from close range. With Sven Ulreich making an important save from Werner soon after, VfB took their lead into the half time break.

FCA equaliser motivates Stuttgart
Both sides were much more active coming out to start the second period and, within three minutes of the whistle, FCA were back on level terms, when Werner buried a shot from the edge of the box into the top corner to make it 1-1. The visiting fans joy at the equaliser was to prove short lived though. In the 51st minute, Harnik won possession on the left, pulled inside and then drove his shot into the opposing corner to make it 2-1 for VfB.